A father whose son was jailed for three years yesterday after he informed police that he was hiding bullets in his house criticised the sentence handed down as too harsh. Paul Metcalfe, 19, was convicted after his father Neil told police about the small stash of ammunition he discovered at his home in Nelson, Lancashire.

Police later found a firearm that the teenager had hidden as well. Sentencing at Burnley crown court, Judge Christopher Cornwall commended Metcalfe for making the "proper decision".

Outside court Neil Metcalfe, 45, said: "I think I would have done the same thing again but I would have to think about it a little harder in the future.

"I didn't know there was a mandatory five-year sentence for this offence. Now in the same situation I would not tell the police directly but I would have gone with my son to hand himself in."

He criticised the length of the sentence and said 18 months would have been a fairer term. "He's got three years when people who do GBH only get two years. It does not make sense," he said. "I feel sorry for him. He had not even touched the gun. It was bagged and sealed. He did not go down the street threatening anyone with a gun. He had no intention of using it and should have only got about 18 months."

Paul Metcalfe was paid £100 to "mind" a blank-firing handgun, converted to fire live rounds. He openly admitted having the material to his sister's boyfriend, who then told his father.

Neil Metcalfe rang 999 after finding 11 bullets wrapped in a plastic bag on top of an airing cupboard. Police raided the house last November and found the gun hidden in a sofa bed.

Paul Metcalfe told detectives he was put under pressure to hide the firearm and refused to name the suppliers.

He showed no emotion in the dock as he was sentenced to three years in a young offenders' institute for possessing a prohibited firearm and ammunition. He pleaded guilty to both offences at an earlier hearing. The mandatory sentence for illegal possession of a firearm is five years' imprisonment, but it can be lowered on the judge's discretion.

Explaining his decision, the judge told the defendant: "I have to strike a balance of the aggravating feature of the intention to return the firearm and the counterbalancing action that your father has taken that weapon out of circulation."

He added: "It may be that the more important issue is how a 19-year-old from a good home with respectable, loving parents found himself mixing with people in gun crime."

In a statement to the court Metcalfe said he believed his son, who had no previous convictions, had fallen into the wrong circle after becoming a cannabis user.

Referring to Paul's father's actions, the judge said: "How can you live with your conscience if you do nothing and someone is killed or maimed for life as a consequence of not doing anything? He [Mr Metcalfe] deserves to be commended for taking that proper decision."

Det Insp Derek Jones, from Lancashire police, said: "Paul Metcalfe has received a slightly lesser sentence because of the commendable actions of his father.

"I would like to remind people that the mandatory minimum sentence for possessing a firearm, under normal circumstances, is five years.

"Handing his son in to the police must have been an incredibly difficult decision for Mr Metcalfe to make, but it was certainly the right one and if he hadn't the consequences could have been horrific.

"I would urge anyone who has any information about individuals who carry firearms to come forward and tell us."Press Association